1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for generating cold water (i.e., a cold water generating apparatus) for cooling drinkable purified water, and a water purifier having the same.
2. Background
A water purifier may be a device that filters water by physical and/or chemical methods to remove impurities and then supplies the purified water to a user. Water purifiers may be categorized, for example, as a natural filtration type, a direct filtration type, an ion exchange water type, a distillation type, a reverse osmosis type, etc. according to an employed purification method.
The water purifiers may also be categorized as one of a storage water purifier or a direct-type water purifier. In the storage water purifier, water is purified through a filter and stored in a water storage tank, and the stored water from the storage tank may then be heated or cooled upon discharge from the tank and provided to a user. In the direct-type water purifier, water is purified through a filter and heated or cooled when provided to a user without storing the purified water in a water storage tank. Thus, the direct-type water purifier does not store a relatively large amount of the purified water as compared with the storage type water purifier. Accordingly, the direct-type water purifier can typically be relatively lighter and smaller, and the purified water in the direct-type water purifier may be less likely to become contaminated during storage. The direct-type water purifier has a further effect of reducing power consumption associated with continuously heating or cooling the relatively large amount of water contained in the water storage tank at a desired temperature.
However, the direct-type water purifier should heat or cool the purified water to desired temperatures within a relatively short time after starting to discharge water, while also continuing to heat or cool the purified water at the desired temperatures to discharge a relatively continuous supply of the cold water or the hot water. To this end, the direct-type water purifier may include a tank or a passage which receives a predetermined amount of the purified water that is heated or cooled through a heat-exchange. In order to increase a continuous flow rate of the cooled purified water, a size of the tank or the passage may be increased, but increasing the tank or the passage would also increase the overall volume and weight of the water purifier.
A direct-type water purifier may include a cooling or heating module employing a thermoelectric element for quickly generating cold water and hot water. The thermoelectric element may absorb or generate heat using electric energy. The thermoelectric element provides a relatively high response speed and while generating relatively less noise and vibration in comparison to other water heating and cooling components. Furthermore, the thermoelectric element tends to be relatively light in weight and small in size. However, the thermoelectric element generally tends to have high power consumption due to relatively low thermal efficiency.